World Boardgaming Championships Arena Tournament - 2017

[wtcannonjr]

The WBC Mage Wars Arena tournament completed its third year at the end of July. This was our second year at the new resort location for the convention located in Sevens Springs, PA. The convention runs 9 full days and is jammed full of tournaments, auctions, and open gaming. Here is a quick recap of the results for this year.

We had a new format using a Swiss style over 5 rounds (two on Thursday and three on Saturday). This allowed players to play as many rounds as they wanted rather than have to end competitive play based on a single elimination game. This change received only positive ratings from the players so we will keep this format for next year. 23 players entered the tournament rounds this year and we had 50 players participate over 5 demo sessions. The demo participation includes some players who returned to play in multiple sessions.

Arcane Wonders donated a fabulous mix of prizes in addition to the wooden Plaque that WBC awards to the winner. We had door prizes for each round and the top six finishers received expansions. The first place winner took home one of every Mage expansion and the Lost Grimoire Volume I!

Top 6 players for 2017
1. Chris Byrd - Beastmaster (4-0)
2. Brad McCandless - Warlock (3-2)
3. James Newsome - Wizard (3-2)
4. Vincent Sinigaglio - Priestess (4-1)
5. David Wolfe - Wizard (3-1)
6. David Rogozinski - Priestess (3-1)

Tournament points were awarded based on the standard scoring system with players ranked based on their total over 5 rounds. The tie breaker was the total score of opponents played to represent the toughest schedule.

Results from the 2016 event are located here http://www.boardgamers.org/yearbook16/mgw.html. Full reports for 2017 will be posted to on the convention archives in November.

AREA ratings for players of Mage Wars can be found at this location. This site currently has the 2015 and 2016 WBC results, but will be updated once I submit the WBC 2017 results.

https://area.kww.us/area/G_MGW.html#_

Thanks to Arcane Wonders for their amazing support and to my Assistant GM - Frank Hastings.

[silverclawgrizzly]

That's a huge event! Very well done! Fascinating that the top four are all core set mages, or is that part of the format? Either way very good job.

[DaveW]

Doesn't that make sense though, as those are the four that have gotten support through Academy?

[wtcannonjr]

That's a huge event! Very well done! Fascinating that the top four are all core set mages, or is that part of the format? Either way very good job.

Correct. This is an Arena Core Set only format to encourage new players to enter competitive play. The demo sessions teach the Apprentice mode and we use the Apprentice mode for the first two rounds. On Saturday we switch to Advanced Rules and custom spellbooks. For players without a copy of the game, they use a standard Advanced Rules spellbook for the mage of their choice which I provided this year.

We managed 36 total matches over the 5 rounds. Previous winning mages of this event were the Wizard in 2015 and the Warlock in 2016.

It still surprise me that in the demo sessions I always come across players who have a copy of the game, but have not had time or interest to learn yet. The Demo sessions really help let players learn and ask questions about the rules and game play. Next year I plan to add a set of Demos for the Advanced Rules as well to help new players learn both levels of play in Arena.